Weidmüller establishes Smart Connectivity Competence Center at the CIIT in Lemgo

Dr. Sascha Nolte, Head of the Smart Connectivity Competence Center, demonstrates in the rooms of the Smart Connectivity Competence Center at CENTRUM INDUSTRIAL IT (CIIT) how employees in Lemgo will work in the future.

The Detmold-based electrical engineering company Weidmüller is expanding its presence in the independent research and development center CENTRUM INDUSTRIAL IT (CIIT) at the Innovation Campus Lemgo. Weidmüller is establishing a Smart Connectivity Competence Center within the CIIT to develop innovations in connection technology and to intensify its focus on topics related to industrial infrastructure. Ten employees from the Device and Field Connectivity division will work even more closely within the CIIT partner network in the future. This implementation of the company's strategy follows its announcement in December 2017 to engage more deeply in Lemgo and to promote the development of the Innovation Campus Lemgo. "The goal of the Competence Center is to advance research and development in smart industrial connection technology, the transformation of industrial infrastructure, and the digital description of products," emphasizes Jörg Scheer, head of the Device and Field Connectivity division at Weidmüller.

Weidmüller is particularly building on its more than ten-year cooperation with the Science-to-Business-Center CIIT. Additionally, the proximity to SmartFactoryOWL, the nearby Fraunhofer Application Center IOSB-INA, the Institute for Industrial Information Technology (inIT) at OWL University, and participation in the network "it's OWL" will provide optimal support for the Competence Center. The focus of future development will be on industrial infrastructure for energy, signals, and data, as digitalization continuously transforms business models, products, work processes, and collaboration between employees and with customers. This leads to new solutions, products, services, and business models that enable networking along the value chain. "The trend of digitalization in industry requires new approaches even for traditionally electromechanical components. Connectors are becoming smart, gaining intelligence, and will take on innovative additional functions in the future, or need to operate within infrastructure networks that use direct current instead of alternating current for energy distribution," Scheer explains. "With the Smart Connectivity Competence Center, we are responding to this development and intensifying the development of smart connector and infrastructure solutions."

Weidmüller has been involved in technology development at the CIIT in Lemgo for several years — the employees from the division are further strengthening this presence. In the future, the employees will work closely together with local research institutions to develop technologies into market-ready solutions in collaboration with customers.